Back in August, when I was the first to report that Nintendo Power would be ceasing publication at the end of the year, I was largely able to compartmentalize my personal feelings about the move in favor of reporting on the facts. But today, when I saw the above image of the magazine's final cover (left)'one that pays loving homage to that iconic Issue 1 cover from 1988 (right)'it really hit me how much the death of Nintendo Power represents the end of an era.

I didn't subscribe to Nintendo Power until its second year in print, after I finally convinced my parents to get me an NES. I haven't actually read an entire issue cover-to-cover for about 15 years now (timing that roughly corresponds to when I got unlimited Internet access in my home). But for a period of about ten years in my youth, Nintendo Power (along with GamePro and Electronic Gaming Monthly) served as my main introduction to the larger world of video games.

At the time, the large screenshots and previews of titles that I would probably never own were the main draw. But looking back, I feel like the most important thing I found in those glossy pages was a feeling of connection to the larger world surrounding the games themselves.